Chapter 19: It's Electric!!!
Izuku had begun to pick up the slack while Eraser was in the hospital recovering.
It wasn't like the hero had asked Izuku to or anyone else for that matter. And there were other heroes that were in the area already and more than capable to handle the nightly patrols themselves, but it just felt right.
While he patrolled Eraserhead's usual spots, he made sure to be careful and attentive. This was more than him just keeping an ear out for kicks and giggles, so he needed to treat it as such. Tsukauchi was surprised the first time Izuku called the station to report a robbery that he had stopped and told the young boy to bring the perpetrators down and fill out some quick paperwork.
It struck Izuku as weird that they just let him do that. He was a vigilante, why weren't they trying to capture him or take him down? Sure, he wasn't hurting anyone, and he technically wasn't breaking any laws, but still…
"Hey Tsuki."
"Serpentine, this must be what you called about?"
"Yep, can I have the paperwork? I really need to get back."
This caused the detective to let out a chuckle while he laid a small stack of papers in front of the vigilante. "You only need to fill out the first stapled papers, but I have a feeling that you'll be back."
"Thanks."
Izuku sat down and began to fill out what Eraser had showed him a few weeks ago while Tsuki took the robbers to either a cell or an interrogation room. He came back not too long after and Izuku was just finishing up, "You seem to be taking this very seriously, any particular reason?"
"Nope. Thanks Tsuki, I'll be back in a bit!" And he was out the station doors before the detective could get another word out.
Two officers walking by watched the vigilante skip right past them and out of the station. They stopped in their tracks and looked at each other, making sure that they both just saw the same thing.
"Was that Serpentine?"
"Did we just witness a known vigilante literally skip away from the police?"
They stared at each other for a minute longer before one of them sipped their coffee and shrugged as he continued to walk. "I didn't see anything."
"If Tsukauchi didn't see, then neither did I."
They were right of course; Serpentine had paid about four more visits to the station to drop off criminals and fill out the incident reports before going out again.
Each time he'd catch the attention of some police officers just trying to do their job and the poor guys would just gape at the young vigilante running in and out of the station and chatting with the detective.
None of them really knew what to do about the situation. They knew the rules about vigilantism, but neither the chief nor Tsukauchi had directly said anything to them about Serpentine, so most of them just tried to stay out of it as such as they could.
But the sight of the detective having banter with the kid and watching him come and go with a glint of affection in his eyes was what really caught them all off guard.
They decided not to mention it. No one wanted to be on Tsukauchi's bad side.
It was nice, helping people semi officially. A small part of Izuku wondered if he might've been able to have this is another life. If maybe he could've applied and gotten into UA to train to be a hero. Maybe work beside Eraserhead for a bit and then eventually branch off and work his way up the hero rankings.
Although, Izuku wasn't sure that if he had his choice now, he would choose to be a daylight hero. They were in the spotlight and had to deal with the media and their image and all of that frivolous stuff that underground heroes just got to brush off and really focus on their work.
He shook his head, that wasn't possible. He knew that he couldn't be a hero. Even if there was a possibility, what were they going to do, enroll the dead kid in a hero school? And that didn't even take into consideration his quirk and how far behind his classmates he would be.
Even if he did manage to get into UA, he'd just be a dead weight. Better to utilize his skills here where he was useful.
Izuku had just left the station for the fourth time and was walking down a street when he heard something in an alley he had just passed.
Why? Why is it always the alleys? Why can't anything happen in the middle of the well-lit street?
He poked his head to try and see what was happening and was shocked when he saw one of the daylight heroes beating up some criminal.
What were they doing? Their patrol was hours ago and not near here at all, so what was going on?
If Izuku was right it was that pro Conductor. From what he knew, the hero was relatively new, hadn't even been on the scene five years yet. His quirk was Electrostatic: he was able to generate and manipulate the static electricity around him. The hero was actually extremely creative with his quirk, utilizing it to form different weapons and even using it defensively, it was impressive.
It didn't take the pro long to finish his take down and once he did Izuku tried to bolt (haha get it) before he saw him, but of course that did not work out. "Hold it." The hero's voice was loud as he called to Izuku from down the alley. "Who are you and what is your business?"
"Business? Oh, I don't have any business. I was actually just about to leave and let you do your thing, so if I could just-" He had tried to leave the mouth of the alley but found that an electric field was stopping him. He turned back to the hero with an incredulous look on his face, "Seriously?"
"I would watch your tone if I were you."
"Look man, I'm really just trying to get out of your hair. If you could just let me leave, then you won't have to see me ever again."
Conductor scoffed as he tied up the criminal he had taken down and began to walk towards Izuku. "I know you…you're that new vigilante! Serpentine, wasn't it?"
Izuku sighed, he still wasn't used to people recognizing him and he didn't think he ever would be. "I guess."
"Hmph," The mood of the alley changed in an instant. What was once cautious and left room for playfulness was now…less than. "I've heard all about you, can't for the life of me figure out why they haven't apprehended you yet, but I guess if someone's gotta do it-"
Oh.
…oH-this was bad. Oh, this couldn't be worse…actually it could, but still.
Izuku was trapped in an alley with a hero that wanted him captured and he had no way of escaping. Great.
"Hey now-" Izuku held up his hands in front of his chest and slowly backed away from the approaching hero, "I'm not looking for any trouble, I actually love your work. You could call me quite the hero fan."
"Hero fan or not, you're still a vigilante and need to be taken down." Conductor cracked his knuckled and charged up his fists with an attack.
Izuku frantically looked around for literally any way he could get out of this. The mouth of the alley was caged off with electricity, any dumpsters were further down, the two fire escapes were also farther down (traitors) and Conductor was slowly getting closer.
The only way he could think of to get out was to go through the pro.
…or around.
A plan formed in his head. It was a stupid one and one that may just get him captured, but he hoped desperately that it would work. He would just have to not get fried and die before he could escape.
"Come on kid, don't make this harder than it needs to be." The hero palmed his hands together and slowly drew them apart, a move that Izuku knew he frequently used to immobilize his opponents. If he hit him with it, then Izuku would go down and have no hope of escaping.
Of course, if he was brought to Tsuki he'd probably be fine, but who's to say that even then he'd be safe? What if the detective has just been waiting for the right opportunity to take him in? Would Eraser be in on it? It is a bit suspicious that the hero hasn't tried to apprehend him himself.
Stop it Izuku! Focus now, worry later.
Right, okay…just charge and hope that Conductor isn't as agile as he is.
Izuku took off, running full speed at the static hero thinking to himself just how stupid a plan this is. Conductor froze in shock only for a moment, but that was all that Izuku needed. He dodged the hero's stunning attack and used his momentum to run up the side of the alley wall.
It wasn't as affective as he wanted it to be, but it was affective enough. He made it around the hero and booked it to the other end of the long alley.
Unfortunately, Conductor was able to use his quirk at long and close range and so to counter this, Izuku ran in a zigzag to avoid any energy beams that the hero might try to hit him with. The strategy worked…for a bit at least. It didn't take the hero long to counter and hit him with a blast that knocked him off of his feet.
Ah, son of a-
It hurt like hell, but this wasn't Izuku's first time being electrocuted. He had the burn scars on his right hand to prove that. He wasn't down for long, one perk of killing yourself over and over again is that you build up one heck of a pain tolerance and the blast wasn't meant to stun him, just knock him down.
Izuku was back on his feet, much to the surprise of Conductor who was running towards him yelling at him to stop and give himself up.
Fat chance buddy.
He kept running. Even though his legs felt like jelly that could give out any minute, even though he could smell the smoke coming from his now poofed out hair, even though he didn't have a clue how he was going to get himself out of this, he kept running.
Izuku passed by a few dumpsters and a plan-or more of a distraction-came to him.
Picking up loose trash as he ran, he began to hurl beer bottles and soda cans at the still pursuing hero. He even found a banana peel that he threw in his path hoping that he would slip on it like in the cartoons. No such luck.
And after the dumpsters came Izuku's favorite thing…the fire escapes.
Eeny Meeny Miny-Left!
He cut to the left and jumped up to grab onto the bottom platform of the escape swinging himself over the railing. Eraser would be so proud.
Izuku took the stairs two at a time and made use of short cuts when he could, but it was hard to ignore the pain in his body and the fear that he could collapse at any time.
In hindsight, a metal structure probably wasn't the best escape from someone with an electric quirk, but to be fair, Izuku wasn't in his best mindset. He hadn't made it up three flights before his body seized and he fell to the floor unable to control his moments.
"I'll give it to you Serpentine, you sure put up a good fight, but you're still just a child. It was foolish to believe that you could escape me." Conductor's voice came from below and he could hear the hero begin to ascend the escape stairs.
Oh that was sooooo cool-
NO STOP IT IZUKU! NOT THE TIME!
Ugh! Come on, think! Think!
What notes do I have on Conductor?
His quirk, his costume, some of the weapons that he carries and his support items…
Wait-
Rubber gloves!
Conductor wore rubber gloves because he wasn't resistant to electricity, he could just manipulate it, so while he was on this fire escape, he couldn't use his quirk to its full potential.
Great, now all Izuku had to do was move…
Come on, come on, come on…yes!
It wasn't much, but Izuku had stopped seizing enough to be able to get to his feet. Now all he had to do was climb.
His body was screaming at him, Conductor was screaming at him, and even Izuku was screaming at himself. What was his plan? Get to the roof and then what? It didn't matter, right now he just needed to focus on one step at a time.
The hero had been very surprised when he found that Izuku wasn't where he was supposed to be, so now it was just a game of who could climb up the escape faster. Izuku had the advantage of being a few flights ahead of him, but Conductor was faster than him at the moment. Even so, he had to keep going.
Come on Izuku…come oN IZUKU!
Please, please, please make it…
Yes, oh my gosh thank you Lord!
It was like Christmas. Izuku saw the light at the end of the tunnel, or the end of the stairs at least. He finally made it…what was he going to do now?
He flopped onto the floor of the roof and took the shortest second that he could before he pushed himself back to his feet.
Conductor was right behind him, so he couldn't stop. He had to keep going…
"Hey!" Oh no…
The hero had made it and he looked pissed.
Izuku had just been debating whether or not he thought he could make the jump to the next building when the hero's voice called out. He flinched and readied himself to make the jump.
He turned back to look at the hero one last time and saw that in a moment of frustration, a mere second of miscalculation, he must've not seen that Izuku was at the edge of the roof, and he fired off a bolt of electricity heading straight for him.
There was nothing that he could do. Izuku's feet were glued to where they were, and his legs refused to listen to his brain screaming at them to duck.
It all happened in slow motion. The bolt came so quickly, but also so slowly, creeping menacingly. Almost as if taunting him and his frozen limbs. The blue light came close and Izuku saw it illuminating his black clothes before it hit him in the middle of his chest.
The attack itself wasn't enough to kill him by a long shot, but that didn't matter. He was already falling off of the roof when the hero's eyes widened in realization of what he had just done.
Even if Izuku could move, he wouldn't have done anything.
His chest stung. He was definitely going to have a scar when he came back, he just hoped that no one would find him before he did so.
As he fell to the ground, he could see the hero leaning over the roof to watch his mistake. And then to Izuku's complete surprise, he just…left.
Izuku didn't die instantly, the fall wasn't high enough for that. So, he just laid on the concrete in an empty alley, soaking in the fact that he had just been killed by a pro hero and he wasn't going to come for him. Conductor had left…he abandoned Izuku.
This pro hero, who was sworn to protect, had killed him and didn't even come to take responsibility for his actions.
Coward.
Slowly death came to take him, wrapping its cold arms around him like an unwelcomed hug. But to Izuku it was fully welcomed; an embrace that he longed for, one he wished would hold him and never let go…
Unfortunately, he wasn't that lucky.